


Ashley's Goodbye

by leafbladie



Category: Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 07:00:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27139744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leafbladie/pseuds/leafbladie
Summary: Ashley Taylor finds a Witch on her way to the airport. What seems like the perfect opportunity for some much needed stress relief turns deadly quick.
Kudos: 20





	Ashley's Goodbye

**Author's Note:**

> With the closure of the MagiReco NA server, I felt inspired to write about Ashley's inevitable flight back home. May she come back to Japan again someday. This piece is for the Ashley Zine, which you can find on Twitter @AshleyZine

Ashley was angry… no, she was furious. A Witch had decided to appear on today of all days to make everything about her life worse than it already was. Ashley sent Kumanosuke flying forth, dropping another torrent of bombs upon the bunny shaped Witch.

She smirked. Actually, this was just what she wanted. A way to relieve some stress and distract her from her current state of affairs. The Witch was on the ropes, it was time to finish it.

“Glittering Gunk!” Ashley cried.

Ashley channeled her magic into Kumanosuke, causing him to grow bigger and bigger, until he stood tall above the Witch. Directing her finger forth, Kumanosuke charged towards the Witch at top speed, digging deep into the cotton ground with each thunderous footstep.

Kumanosuke stopped on a dime before the Witch, as he unleashed his signature attack. A colorful vomit of glitter and rainbows spewed forth, melting the Witch’s form.

Ashley couldn’t help but feel a bit of satisfaction seeing the Witch liquify before her. It deserved its fate.

*SNIP*

Something crashed into the floor with nary a sound, yet caused a sizable ripple that traveled throughout the ground. It was like a giant pillow had been hurled to the ground in a pillow fight.

“Guragh!” Kumanosuke cried, finally snapping Ashley out of her trance. Only to be confronted by a horror of all horrors. Kumanosuke’s arm had been cut clean off.

The Witch before her hadn’t melted fully like she thought. It’s skin just turned a puke green, exposing a rather nasty looking Witch. It embodied the Gurokawa ideal, but Ashley was so angry and distraught, she didn’t even care to take note.

Kumanosuke’s remaining arm reached over to the stub on its shoulder, holding the fluff in place that was falling out. Ashley bit her lip, not wanting to accept the sight set before her.

The Witch did not let either of them get their bearing though, as it rammed straight away into Kumanosuke and banged at it with its pillowy arms that were doing far more damage than they suggested.

Kumanosuke cried out in pain, as the Witch continued to thrash him in its neverending assault. Ashley had enough, using her control magic, she focused on the Witch.

The Witch’s assault came to a stop, no longer able to move its fist, but it wasn’t finished yet. While it could not move its body, it was able to lengthen its ears as it bent its head down. Its ears shot forth faster than a speeding bullet, cutting Ashley off from both sides.

Ashley jumped back as fast as she could, but it was too late, the shears closed down, cutting her stomach open. The blood and pain sent Ashley stumbling back into a wall. She held her stomach close, and tried to use magic to heal it, all the time swearing she could feel her insides leaving her body.

With her control magic no longer active, the bunny Witch was free to walk up to her without issue. Raising its leg, it was ready to smash Ashley under foot.

“I’m sorry daddy, looks like I’ll be joining you soon,” Ashley cried weakly.

Ashley braced herself for impact, only for the bunny witch to lose balance and slam its foot down besides her, mere inches away.

*THUNK*

Ashley looked to her right, seeing Kumanosuke’s severed arm landing to her other side.

“Kumanosuke,” Ashley muttered weakly, in contrast to the bear’s thunderous footsteps, as he barreled forth on his 3 legs into the witch.

Ramming into it with all his might, the Witch left a sizable impact in the wall. But Kumanosuke didn’t let it regain its composure, pinning it to the wall with its remaining arm.

The Witch extended its sharpened ears again, poised to snip Kumanosuke from the neck up. But as one blade dug into Kumanosuke’s neck, the other was stopped cold in its tracks. Kumanosuke had caught it in his teeth, biting down hard, he ripped the ear straight off the Witch’s head.

The witch recoiled in pain, but Kumanosuke didn’t let up. Pulling his arm back hard, he rammed it forth, snapping the Witch’s neck against the wall.

The bunny laid limp in his paw.

Ashley could barely process the sight before her, not wanting to even acknowledge it. Only finding relief in the fact that it was over. But it wasn’t, as Kumanosuke ripped into the bunny’s body with his mouth.

“S-stop,” Ashley whimpered under her breath. But Kumanosuke continued to angrily tear into the bunny.

The sight hurt too much to look at, but Ashley couldn’t stop, no matter how much she tried to shut and cover her eyes.

As the barrier fell apart around them, and the Witch’s body began to dissipate, having been dealt a mortal blow. Kumanosuke was left gnawing at the air. Still trying to tear into a creature that no longer existed.

Ashley wept into her palms. Was this her?

“Go to Ashley,” a voice called out.

Ashley couldn’t even look up, as she heard the familiar tread of Kumanosuke’s footsteps upon the pavement of the alleyway. In his current state, would Kumanosuke rip into her just like that Witch? She couldn’t help but feel like she deserved it with all she’d done to him.

Kumanosuke’s arm wrapped around her, pulling her tight into his body. Ashley felt oddly accepting of her fate, being crushed to death by her own anger and hatred, it was rather gross and poetic, a truly Gurokawa end. But that fate never came, as she finally realized what Kumanosuke was doing.

Giving her a hug.

Ashley wailed aloud without pause. Letting it echo all throughout the alleyway as a sense of relief washed over her. She later swore she had cried there in that moment for an entire hour.

Finally, as her tears subsided, and she brought her head up, she could make out a familiar face just past Kumanosuke’s imposing figure.

“Riko?!” Ashley exclaimed.

“I’m so glad you’re okay, Ash!” Riko exclaimed, as she ran up to her and Kumanosuke.

“How’d you know where I was?”

“I had some help,” Riko gestured behind her, bringing Ashley to view with many of the friend’s she’d made in Kamihama: Rika, Emiri, Karin, and Kanoko.

Ashley felt herself tearing up. She was so happy to see her friends, but she felt certain she didn’t deserve this happiness.

“Thanks everyone, but you shouldn’t have come for a stupid girl like me,” Ashley muttered.

“Ash…” Riko started.

“That’s no way to talk about yourself!” Rika shouted.

“But it’s true, I don’t deserve your support.”

“We decide who deserves our support, not you! You shouldn’t insult us by rejecting it!” Rika huffed.

“But look at Kumanosuke!” Ashley shouted, “if I could treat one of my dearest friends like that, then I don’t deserve any.”

Kanoko transformed and summoned her threads and needles. With a point of her sword, the threads flew forth and connected Kumanosuke’s lost arm back onto him. If Ashley hadn’t seen it been ripped off with her own eyes, she wouldn’t even have believed that to be the case.

“Friends sometimes hurt friends, it’s a fact of life. But that just means we have to try harder to make it right, instead of wallowing in our pity.”

“You’re right… but my anger… it drove Kumanosuke to do such awful things.” Ashley’s finger dug deep into her skin. She wasn’t sure what would break first, her skin, or her nails.

Emiri walked forward this time, “Like, are you sure it was your anger? Couldn’t it have been your dad’s love for you that made Kumanosuke act that way, like a mother bear trying to protect her cub? It may have been frightening, but he was just trying his best to protect you.”

Ashley had been holding her tears back. Not wanting to make her friends feel they had to comfort her, but at Emiri’s suggestion, she could no longer keep them prisoner. Letting out a massive wail as she sunk to her knees.

Her tears streamed down her face, upsetting her make-up. As her mascara followed her tears, they streaked black lines across her cheeks, like the branches of a dead tree. With all the time she had put into making it look just right, she couldn’t help but self-deprecate again given how easily she had erased it.

“I’m sorry, I look really gross right now don’t I?”

“Yes…,” Riko replied, “but you also look really cute. Put them together and you get Gurokawa!”

Emiri gave a wink and a smile, “Like yeah, you’re the embodiment of Gurokawa right now. A certified Gurokawa angel.”

Ashley teared up further, not sure what to say. She cried a good while longer with Kumanosuke and the rest comforting her.

Ashley had wanted to leave without a word. To leave without the pain of saying goodbye. But, despte how much it hurt right now, she knew she would treasure this memory forever.

Finally, as her tears dried up, Rika took a cleaning cloth from her make-up bag and began to wash away the running mascara from Ashley’s face. Ashley wanted to stop her, thinking she should do it herself, but she knew she wouldn’t. In part, she wanted that physical proof of her pain, but it wouldn’t do to go on the airplane looking like she’d been in a bad break-up.

After Rika was finished, she got back on her feet, and through the doors of the airport. Her friends followed her to the lobby.

“Thank you for coming here for my last day everyone. I really treasured my time with each and everyone of you.”

The whole airport was bustling as people filed around their small gathering in a hurry to get to their next flight. The sounds of suitcases being rolled, tossed, and heaved upward, as people chatted way too loudly on their phones. But in spite of it all, Ashley felt like her and her friends were the only people there.

“Please take this!” Kanoko and Karin bowed together, each extending a book forth.

“It’s the start of my new manga. I hope it can live up to be half as good as Kirin.”

“These are my new outfit designs. I want these to be shared overseas, and I’m sure you’ll be able to win any fashion contest with them.”

Ashley felt rather touched. They had both prepared gifts that clearly took a great deal of time to make. The worn out paper from all the erase marks on both conveying the great deal of revisions to get them into a state they felt comfortable presenting.

“I know I’ll treasure them both forever.”

“Since we showed you around some Japanese stores, I hope you’ll like, return the favor for Rikki and I if we ever visit America,” Emiri hollered.

Ashley smiled, “I’d be happy to!”

Riko finally taking her turn for a goodbye began with an immediate embrace.

“It’s selfish I know, but I don’t want you to leave. You’ll be even further than Miss K when you exit that plane.”

“Don’t worry, I’m far more selfish than you Riko,” Ashley chuckled as she embraced Riko back.

She had given and received so many hugs today, yet not nearly enough. Still, when Riko went to break the embrace, she obliged, not wanting to stay stuck in that moment forever.

Riko undid her Ribbons and placed them in Ashley’s palms. “Even if we’re separated, if I give you this, we’ll always be connected.”

Ashley thought she was all cried out, but some tears were still struggling to form in her eyes at this gesture. She had to return the favor. Taking her hair pin out, she handed it to Riko.

“And with this, that connection will go both ways,” Ashley smiled through the tears.

“Now boarding flight 13 to Los Angeles, California.”

Ashley stood in place, completely still. Hoping she could stay frozen in this moment forever by doing so. But there was no such luck.

“We love you Ash, have a good trip!” Everyone waved as she headed through the gate and onto her flight.

While the time at the gate had seemed to move in slow motion, everything after moved quite quickly, almost as if to compensate. It wasn’t long after she loaded her luggage before she saw the seatbelt light turn on, and the pilot went over their flight details. Soon enough, they were pulling out.

Ashley looked through the window of the plane, and saw her friends waving to her plane.

She knew it was impossible for them to see her through this tiny window, they had no idea where she was even seated. Thinking about it, even if she was able to get back to Japan, would she even be able to see them again?

The thought stressed Ashley out further. And that stress made her feel like she was betraying her friend’s even further, after all they did for her.

“Ash!” Ashley heard Riko cry out telepathically, “I know we’ll meet again!”

Ashley looked through the window again, and saw Riko lock eyes with her.

“After all, Magical Girls make hopes and dreams come true!”


End file.
